


Demonic

by Cats_Dont_Float



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Demons, Depression, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-09-29 16:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20439044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cats_Dont_Float/pseuds/Cats_Dont_Float
Summary: Dave Strider is a depressed college dropout trying to get away from his old life. All he wants is to move somewhere new and live a life that's a little easier and more peaceful than before. It's just his luck that the apartment he buys happens to come with a free demon attached to it. A demon who's really, really bad at his job.





	1. Chapter 1

This apartment shouldn't have been so cheap, Dave thinks as he steps into his new place and looks around. It's a big space, with enough room for him to live comfortably, and wide windows in the living room show off a beautiful view of the city below. He walks around for a few minutes, moving boxes of his stuff around and checking out each room. Then he steps into the bathroom, flicking on the light and checking out his reflection in the mirror. Dark shades hide his eyes, and his white hair is falling out of it's usual neat style, strands of it hanging down into his face. With a sigh, he brushes it back with one hand. As he does so, a movement at the edge of his vision makes him freeze. He could have sworn someone just walked past the bathroom door. No. No, that's ridiculous. It's just sunlight reflecting off of his shades, of course it is. With a shaky breath, he turns and steps towards the door, hands shaking. Stopping for a second by the door, he listens, trying to ignore how ridiculously hard his heart is beating. Nothing. Just the usual distant noises from other people inside the building. He's alone in the apartment. There's no else there.  
He takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves, and then walks into the living room, crouching down and busying himself with sorting through a few of the boxes. He hasn't got much, just some old furniture and a few personal possessions. He'll buy more once he's got a stable job. Right now he's just glad he's away from everything, away from Texas, and his brother, and that goddamn college. His hands start to shake again at the thought of his old life, more in anger this time than in fear. That college, where the other kids bullied him for the scars on his arms, his lack of parents and his sexuality. His brother, who never did anything, who never even noticed that anything was wrong. He pushes his fingers up under his shades to rub away a few hot, angry tears, and then clenches his hands into tight fists, knuckles turning white.  
After a few moments, he manages to calm himself down, taking slow, deep breaths. He sits down cross-legged on the floor, and drops his head into his hands. And only then does he realise how exhausted he is. It's been a long few days, but at least he's here in the apartment now, safe and living on his own, like he's wanted to be for so long. He runs a hand roughly through his hair, fingers catching in tangles and uncomfortably pulling at his scalp. Stress and tiredness overwhelm him, and he leans back against the pile of cardboard boxes with a sigh.  
As he lays there, he starts to hear small noises, coming from further in the apartment, mostly from the direction of the bathroom he thinks. They're not specific noises, just slight creaks and taps, maybe like someone's walking around. He's reminded of the movement he saw earlier, and peers out of the living room and into the dim hallway. He stares for a few seconds, but sees nothing and tries to force himself relax. He's just stressed, and his mind is probably playing tricks on him. And it's probably just the noises from other people in the building that he's hearing. Nothing threatening. Even so, he gets up, and does a quick walk around, telling himself he's just looking around his new apartment again, even though he knows deep down that he's checking he's alone. The sun's starting to set outside, and the inside of the apartment is shadowy now. So he flicks on the lights in each room he steps into, leaving them on when he moves onto the next room.  
The apartment's empty. Just like he told himself it would be.  
"Calm down," he mutters, talking to himself like he always does when he's alone, "Everything's fine. It's just a new place you're not used to." He clenches his fists again, nails digging sharply into the palms of his hands. He's okay, he tells himself, he's okay.  
He spends the rest of the night sat by the living room windows, feeling slightly spooked by the darkness of the city beyond them, but also feeling safer there for some reason. He picks at a bag of food he'd brought at a grocery store earlier instead of having an actual dinner, and eventually passes out from exhaustion, leaning against the wall.

Dave wakes up in the middle of the night, not sure exactly what's woken him, but with his heart racing. He sits there for a few seconds, uncomfortable from sleeping in a strange position, and tries to get a grip on his surroundings. The mostly empty apartment looks strange in the dark, despite the few lights that he has left on in the apartment. That's when he hears a loud crashing from another room. It's not from another apartment, it definitely came from in his own apartment. He jumps to his feet, eyes flying wide open and his heart beating even faster. Breathing heavily, he searches quickly through his boxes for something, anything, that he could use to protect himself. Even as he's doing this, the noises continue, getting closer, moving from room to room. He has to hold back a panicked sob as he hears a noise in the hallway, knowing they're coming for him. He can't find anything, pulling nothing but blankets and cushions from the closest box to him, and starts to give up. Scrambling backwards towards the window, he wonders vaguely if there was a way outside through them, but the apartment is too far up for him to even think about climbing out there. He contemplates calling out for help, but it's early in the morning and the chances of anyone hearing him is unlikely.  
Then the noise suddenly stops. There's a few tiny sounds, like something retreating, and then just silence. Dave stands up slowly, trying to tell himself to be brave, because that's what you have to do when you live alone, right? He heads out into the hallway, and repeats his earlier actions, checking every room. Just like earlier, the apartment is empty. The front door is locked, and there's no sign that anyone had been in here. Dave sits down on the bed in his bedroom, dropping his head into his hands. Is he just going insane?

He doesn't sleep for the rest of the night, instead sitting on his bed and staring out of the door and into the hallway. For the next few hours, he barely even blinks, craning his neck forwards to see and hear any single thing in the apartment. There's nothing. Not even noises from other apartments. It's eerily quiet, in fact, and he doesn't like it. By the time the sun comes up, the corner of one of his eyes is twitching slightly with stress and tiredness, and his mind is almost entirely blank. His muscles are aching from being so tense and scared all night, and he barely even notices when morning comes.  
But eventually, he manages to stand up off of his bed, and stumbles tiredly towards the kitchen. He fills a glass with water, and drinks it shakily. Whilst he's there, he notices his phone, abandoned on the side, and scoops it up to answer several texts from his internet friend, John, who's asking about the new apartment. Dave sends a short text in reply, not really knowing what to say at that moment. With a small sigh, he just tells John that the apartment's good, and that he'll ring him to talk properly later. Then he eats a few handfuls of dry cereal from a nearby box, stumbles over to his bed, and promptly passes out.

He wakes up a few hours later, and sits up with a small yawn, stretching out his arms. He checks his phone and there's no reply from John, and no messages from anyone else either. He throws it aside and lets out a long sigh, rubbing at his face tiredly with his hands. He's still wearing his clothes from when he moved in yesterday, and he's still not fully awake, so Dave decides he might as well use the new bathroom and have a shower. So he grabs some new clothes from a nearby box and heads for the bathroom. Maybe a warm shower will help clear his head.  
It doesn't. In fact, somehow, the shower makes things much worse.  
Halfway through his shower, when the room's full of steam and he can barely see anything that's not directly in front of his face, he hears something. A scratching on the other side of the bathroom door. Dave jumps backwards, almost slipping on the wet floor of the shower, reaching out behind him to steady himself against the wall. There's not anyway he can deny these noises anymore. Someone is in his apartment.  
He leaves the shower running as he climbs out and wraps himself in a towel, hoping whoever's on the other side of the door will think he hasn't noticed them. His shades are sitting on the side of the sink, and he picks them up quickly. They're steamed up, and he wipes them quickly before shoving them over his eyes, hoping they won't make his vision too blurry. Then he very slowly reaches for the lock. Once his fingers are tightly clutching the lock, he puts his other on the door handle, and pulls on both at the same time. The door swings open, and something lets out a screech.

There's a creature crouched by the door, staring up with eyes that burn into Dave's soul: yellow scleras with bright red irises. It's baring sharp, crooked, white teeth at him, snarling slightly, and Dave briefly spots sharp, claw-like nails that must have been causing the scratching noise. He's still tired despite the nap, the heat from the shower has made him feel a little sick, and now the sight of this thing has sent him reeling back in shock. He stumbles, towel slipping down, and falls backwards. His head hits the hard tiled floor, and white hot pain shoots through his skull before everything fades to black.

**********

The first thing Dave registers when he wakes up is a dull, throbbing pain in the back of his head. He lays there for a second, staring up at the ceiling, colourful lights blinking at the edge of his vision. Memories of exactly what happened beforehand suddenly flash back to him, and Dave instantly sits up, panicking. The... creature - what was it? Was it still in the apartment? He quickly scrabbles around for his pile of clothes, and pulls them on, not even bothering to correct the fact that he puts his shirt on back to front. Then he puts his shades back on (they must have come off when he fell) and steps out of the bathroom.  
He's planning to once again check every room, but he doesn't need to. The creature is in the living room, crouched weirdly on top of a pile of boxes, somehow balancing in a way that looks almost effortless. It slowly swings its head, following Dave's movement into the room with eyes that seem to hardly ever blink. Now that he's not passing out, and he's over the initial shock, Dave sees that the creature is almost human. Almost.  
He has pale grey skin, darker grey freckles scattered over much of it. Short black hair sticks up in every direction, a few sections falling over his face and into his eyes, and his ears are large and pointed. There are tiny, rounded horns on top of his head that look a lot like candy corn to Dave. Now that he's not so worried about it, Dave doesn't find the creature that threatening at all.  
Dave takes one step back, so he's a little closer to the door, ready to run, before asking, "What are you?"  
"Rude," the creature says, in a voice that's human but not quite at the same time. He's not sure why, but Dave really hadn't expected it to be able to speak. "My name is Karkat Vantas. And who the fuck are you?"  
"Dave Strider," he says coolly, keeping his voice level, trying not to show any emotion, "This is my apartment."  
"That's what you think," Karkat says with a small laugh, "You might have paid to live here, but this place has belonged to me for years."  
"To repeat my earlier question," Dave sighs, crossing his arms over his chest, "What are you?"  
Karkat rolls his eyes angrily, and hops down from the pile of boxes. When he stands up, he's shorter than Dave, but proportionally he basically just looks like a short human. "Don't you humans know a demon when you see one?" Karkat snaps, "You humans are useless! How am I supposed to do my job when you can't even be bothered to educate yourself on basic facts."  
"Right, well," Dave mutters, "Wait, a demon?"  
Karkat lets out a low growl, and lashes a tail that Dave only notices then. It's grey, and becomes black towards the end. The whole tail is coated with short fur, but the black end is made of longer fur that's currently fluffed up like when a cat gets angry.  
Dave stares for a second, rubbing at his eyes under his shades, sure he must still be asleep and dreaming. He really has lost it, hasn't he? This is ridiculous. A demon in his new apartment. That's... impossible. But then, maybe it would explain the cheap price of the place. He sits down slowly on the sofa, and puts his head down into his hands. When he looks back up, Karkat is still there, staring blankly at him with those bright eyes.  
"Don't worry about it," Karkat sighs eventually, "People always react like this. Actually, most people instantly try to kill me. I'll try not to annoy you, but it is kind of my duty to haunt you so... you might see me around from time to time. I'll stay out your way as much as possible though; I don't exactly want this job." He kicks at the carpet, and the fact that he's wearing shoes seems strange to Dave for some reason. He goes to say something, but when he looks up he sees that Karkat is fading slightly, looking less detailed and more like a blur of coloured smoke.  
"Wait!" Dave calls, "I have questions."  
"See you around, Strider," Karkat says, raising one hand in what looks like a faint attempt at a wave, "Oh, and by the way, you might want to clean your head, that's a nasty looking cut." And then fades away to nothingness. Dave stares at the wall behind where Karkat just was for a few seconds, trying to find something to say or think that might explain exactly what just happened. He raises a hand to the back of his head, and winces at the sharp sting of pain. When he pulls his hand away, there's blood on his fingertips. So instead of trying to work out what the hell just happened, he takes Karkat's advice, and searches around for his first-aid supplies.

***********

For the next week or so, Dave doesn't see Karkat, but he knows he's there. Almost every night is filled with the sound of something moving around in the apartment. At first it bothers Dave and he finds it difficult to sleep, but then the noises somehow become comforting to him. And after a while he finds it harder to sleep when it's silent than when things are crashing around all night long. As well as that, things start to move. He wakes up in the morning to find boxes having been moved around, things moved into different cupboards and some random things thrown onto the floor for no specific reason.  
One night, as he goes to bed, Dave jokingly calls out, "Hey Karkat, if you feel like moving some shit around tonight, feel free to unpack those boxes for me dude." When he gets up the next morning, a few of his boxes have been opened, and his kitchen utensils and crockery have all been put away into cupboards. There's a scrap of paper laying on the kitchen side, and a bold, scrawling handwriting reads: YOU'RE WELCOME, FUCKASS.  
Dave still has absolutely no idea why there's a demon in his apartment, and what to do about it. Part of him still thinks he's imagining the entire thing. But Karkat hasn't killed him yet, and so he focuses on other things. Like messaging his friends, and throwing out his old college stuff and trying desperately to get himself a job. Because even when there's a demon living in your apartment, you've still got to keep living a normal life, apparently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for this entire thing came from a dream I had, because apparently I'm such trash that I dream about Homestuck now. Anyway, I told myself I wasn't going to post any of this until all of the chapters were written, but it turns out I have no self control. The rest will be posted in the next few days because it's pretty much done.  
(Also I might change the name of this at some point but I'm leaving it for now while I finish writing it)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Major mentions of self harm and scars in this chapter! Please be careful and don't read this if you think it'll upset you. :)

Dave gets a job at a local coffee shop. He hates every second of it, and every customer that comes through the door makes him hate it just a little more, but, as he keeps telling himself, at least now he's earning money. Now he can afford to eat properly and buy some new furniture for himself. And that helps to make the new apartment feel just a little more like home. Despite the demon who keeps insisting that the apartment belongs to him and not Dave.  
Because Karkat has apparently decided to start being much more vocal. Dave barely ever sees him, but he sure can hear him. The demon's loud, slightly scratchy voice echoes through the apartment at random points of the day, mostly just to insult Dave, but occasionally warning him against doing something. Like when Dave decided he wanted to move the mirror on the bathroom wall. Apparently that was something he could never do. Something to do with the mirror being the object that anchored Karkat to the apartment or some shit like that. Dave was tempted to move it anyway, but eventually he had decided not to. Something about Karkat's presence has been nice recently, but he really doesn't want to know what the demon will be like if he's pissed off.

One day, work is a lot worse than usual. A man comes in who looks a lot like his Bro, which throws him for a while, and that's followed by a group of teens who place complex orders, and then grumble and mutter insults when he can't make them quick enough for their standards. It's a hot day as well, and working behind a counter for hours on end in a ridiculous uniform, serving rude, ungrateful customers, means that by the end of the day he's more irritable than usual.  
He comes home from work and collapses backwards onto his bed, hands over his face, and lets out a long groan.  
"Dave!" A voice shouts instantly, echoing loudly around the apartment in a way that Dave can's work out where it's coming from.  
"What?" Dave shouts back into the house. "If you're going to talk to me can you please just... you know... manifest." There's a loud sigh, slightly closer than the original sounds, followed by an indescribable sound from the hallway. Then Karkat wanders into the room, arms crossed and a small scowl on his face. "Thanks," Dave sighs, "It's weird talking to you when you're not actually there. Now what do you want?"  
"Take your meds," Karkat huffs, "You forgot them this morning."  
"What?" Dave says in disbelief, "You actually came in here to tell me to take my meds? To take my fucking meds." He's laughing at this point, slamming his hand down onto the bed by his side as he does so. "Karkat, aren't you supposed to be here to like... make my life miserable? Isn't that your role as a demon?"  
"Yes," Karkat glowers, crossing his arms even tighter across his chest, "Why?"  
"Karkat, you're a shit demon," Dave tells him, "You're supposed to be terrorising me and instead you're making sure I'm taking my medicine. Why the fuck do they even let you do this job anymore?" He's still laughing, and reaches under his shades to rub at his eyes as they start to water slightly.  
"Fuck off!" Karkat shouts, and his voice forms into a roar that makes Dave flinch back in surprise, "I am a creature straight from hell! You do not get to insult me! I am not your friend!" He glares, and turns on his heel to storm away, muttering under his breath, "And to think I came in here to help you, you asshole." Dave watches him leave, and then rolls over onto his front and sighs. How did he fuck that one up? It doesn't matter. He fucks everything up.

Ten minutes later, he gets up and wanders into the kitchen. Karkat's right, he probably should take his meds. What he doesn't expect to find is Karkat sat on the sofa, staring ahead at the wall. He rubs quickly at his eyes when Dave walks in, and Dave turns to look at him with one eyebrow raised. He could swear that Karkat looks like he's been crying. When Karkat bares his teeth and growls feebly at him, Dave sighs and turns away, pulling his medicine bottle out from a drawer. He glances back over at Karkat as he tips a pill out into his hand, and is slightly amused to see Karkat give him a small nod.  
"Hey," Karkat says after Dave's chucked the bottle of pills back into the drawer, "What do those do?"  
Dave looks at him and raises one eyebrow. "You mean my antidepressants? They make me not depressed."  
"Right," Karkat says, and Dave can tell from the look on his face that he still doesn't properly understand.  
"I just need them, okay?" Dave sighs, still annoyed after everything at work and not really wanting to have to explain himself, "It really doesn't matter." He leaves Karkat alone in the living room and shuts himself in his bedroom for the rest of the night. At some point John calls him, and they chat for a while until Dave's too tired to keep his eyes open for much longer. Talking to John always helps him feel a little better, and the weight on his shoulders feel slightly lighter as he goes to bed that night. Karkat crashes around the apartment even louder than usual that night.

After that encounter, Karkat starts to fully manifest more often, often without even being asked to by Dave. It's no longer a surprise for Dave to come home and find Karkat lounging on the sofa or going through the cupboards, and it's only when Karkat starts to moan that the place is a mess that Dave finally finishes unpacking his stuff. It's just like having a roommate... a roommate who often turns to smoke, makes things disappear when he's pissed at Dave and can project his voice throughout the whole apartment when he's too lazy to just go and find out what room Dave's in.  
He wakes up one morning to find Karkat at the fridge, drinking milk straight out of the carton.  
"It is you that keeps taking my food!" Dave declares triumphantly, his suspicions concerned. He thought a lot of his snacks kept seeming to disappear.  
"Well, duh," Karkat mutters, "There's no one else living here."  
"Okay well can you not drink it out of the carton at least?" Dave sighs, "That's fucking gross dude." Karkat rolls his eyes, but later that day Dave catches him pouring milk into a glass (and struggling with it somehow) and smiles to himself.

Dave's only ever lived with his Bro before, and going from that to living with a demon has been... interesting. Karkat can be just as temperamental and angry as Bro was, but Dave's never felt scared of Karkat, just slightly confused by him. Whereas with his Bro... Dave sometimes felt like his brother didn't even know Dave lived there. They would go days without speaking to each other, and when they did speak it often ended in fights. Whereas with Karkat, they do nothing but talk. On multiple occasions Karkat has woken him in the middle of the night to ask him some random question, sometimes more than once in one night. They sit together on the sofa most of the time when Dave's not at work, talking about stuff that doesn't really matter. It's a good distraction from the outside world. But there are still questions about Karkat that are bothering Dave. He just isn't quite sure if he wants to know the answers yet.

"Kat," he says eventually one morning as he strolls into the living room. Karkat, is, unsurprisingly, eating a bowl of the cereal Dave bought the day before.  
"Don't call me that," Karkat grumbles, "I'm not a meowbeast." Dave snickers at Karkat's use of the demon word for 'cat'. And he's wrong, as well, Dave thinks. Karkat is exactly like a cat. A bit annoying, but you appreciate them all the same. And Dave's even caught Karkat chasing a spot of light before when he didn't think Dave was watching.  
"Whatever," Dave sighs, "Look, I was just wondering... why exactly are you here? Are you going to sneak up on me in my sleep and murder me? Are you here to send me to hell? Like seriously, dude, why are you haunting an average fifth floor apartment?"  
Karkat huffs. "Some idiot who lived on the land before the apartments were here used to open portals or some shit. He didn't close it properly and now one of us has to be stationed here at all times to monitor it. And I'm the poor sucker that's been stuck with the job for the last... I don't, a hundred years or so."  
"Why you?" Dave asks, "You're not exactly the most threatening of demons."  
"Exactly," Karkat hisses, lashing his tail and hitting it into the wall with a loud smack. "I'm just a useless, low level demon, so they give me the jobs no one else wants. My superiors haven't even checked in one me in decades."  
"So just leave."  
"Don't you think I would have done that if it was that easy? I can't just leave! I'm tethered here. And even if I could, I wouldn't. If I left my post, this place would be destroyed, the whole of Earth could potentially be put into danger and my superiors would destroy me." Karkat's practically pouting at this point, his tail still sweeping from side to side. Dave wonders how much it would hurt if that tail hit him at speed. "Trust me," Karkat continues angrily, tail movements speeding up, each smack of it hitting the wall getting louder, "I don't want to be stuck on this crappy planet in this crappy building for the rest of my existence."  
"Hey, chill out," Dave says in a voice that he hopes is calming, "At least you get to haunt me, huh? Could be worse people to be stuck with."  
"Ugh," is all Karkat says. He does calm down slightly now, tail falling limply down towards the ground, but his hands are curled into fists, and beads of blood run down his fingers where his claws have dug into the palms of his hands. "I'm sorry," he sighs eventually, "Everything was really bad before you came, and... well, I just don't like to think about it. The last owner of this place didn't stay long, but in the time that they did..." he sighs, and suddenly, with no explanation, pulls up the sweater he's wearing. There are marks all over his body, raised scars that ripple slightly as Dave looks at them, as if they affect the entirety of whatever energy Karkat's made of.   
"No weapon on Earth could kill me, or barely even hurt me," Karkat says, "But they still leave a mark. And... well it still hurts emotionally, I guess. No one ever gives me a chance. They hear the word demon and instantly decide I'm bad. Until you. You're the only one that's ever stayed." Dave's not sure why, because this is a demon, a creature from hell, but the sight of all the old wounds makes him want to pull Karkat into a hug and just never let go. He could find some way to break whatever spell thing is keeping Karkat here, and take the demon away from this place, live away from the world together. The sudden realisation of how ridiculous that thought is makes him come back to his senses. And really, he just feels awful for calling Karkat a shit demon before, when he didn't realise how much Karkat struggled with his job. And then he notices that he's just been staring wordlessly, how long for he has no idea, and Karkat is self-consciously pulling his sweater back down over his stomach.

They both stand there silently for a few more moments, Karkat anxiously biting at one of his little claws. Dave feels like he's seen something he shouldn't have, like this emotional, weaker side of Karkat is something only for him to know about. And so, for no reason other than he feels like he owes something similar to Karkat, he rolls up one long sleeve of his shirt, and offers his arm towards Karkat.  
"What?" The demon mumbles, confused as usual.  
"You showed me yours," Dave shrugs, trying to appear cool and collected, even though his heart's in his throat. Why does he care so much about how Karkat will react to this? He probably won't even care.  
The little demon makes a few small, clicking noises in the back of his throat that Dave's heard before and thinks must be some form of demon language, gently taking Dave's arm in his cold hands. He runs a finger across a few of the white, raised scars on Dave's arm, and the sensation makes Dave shiver slightly.  
"Who did this to you?" Karkat asks softly as Dave holds out his other arm, which looks much the same, and Karkat lays his hands over the cars there as well.  
Dave lets out one small, soft, sad breath of laughter. "Me."  
Karkat looks up, eyes flying even wider than usual. "Why would you do this?" He asks, gripping Dave's arms a little tighter, and Dave should be scared of those claws puncturing his skin. He should be, but he's not.  
"I was hurting," Dave shrugs, "I was sad and angry and so fucking alone. Somehow it helped." He stares down at his arms for a second, realising it's the first time in a while that he's even looked at the scars. And then a drop of some sort of liquid falls onto his arm. It's red-tinted, and he panics, thinking it's blood. But when he looks up he realises Karkat's crying ever so slightly, though he's trying to hide it by wiping the tears away the second they spill onto his cheeks.  
"You... you can't do this anymore, promise me," Karkat murmurs as his thumb brushes over a few newer marks, "Promise me, Dave!" He practically shouts that last part.  
"I can't promise dude," Dave sighs, "But I really am trying. That's what the pills are for, that's why I moved here. I'm trying so goddamn hard." And then he's crying too, and what should of just been a quick conversation with Karkat has turned into some much more, because within a few minutes the two are curled up together on the sofa, holding each other as they both cry over their miserable pasts. And it never even occurs to Dave how strange this is. How he feels closer to a demon he's only known for a few weeks than he does to almost anyone he's ever met before.

Eventually, Dave sits up, untangling his limbs from Karkat's and rubbing at his eyes under his shades because they're now stinging painfully.  
"Take the shades off, idiot," Karkat says, "Why the fuck do you always wear them?"  
Dave rolls his eyes even though Karkat can't see them. But he guesses after everything Karkat's seen, his eyes can't hurt. So he reaches up and pulls them off and places them gently on the side of the sofa, careful not to break them because they were a present from John and more than just a pair of shades. When he glances up, Karkat doesn't react for a second, and then leans forward with interest. He reaches up and puts a hand on either side of Dave's face, holding his head in place as he stares into his eyes intently.  
"What are you doing?" Dave mumbles, uncomfortably aware of how close together their faces are.  
"Are you a demon?" Karkat asks, looking at Dave's bright red eyes, "Humans don't have red eyes, right?"  
Dave lets out a heavy sigh. "No, we don't," he says, "But I do for some reason."  
"Huh," Karkat mumbles. Then he suddenly seems to realises what he's doing and jumps back slightly, taking his hands away from Dave's face. "Well, you don't have to wear your shades all the time in here if you don't want to."  
"Thanks," Dave mumbles quietly, and he leaves the shades sitting on the arm of the sofa for the time being. Karkat smiles, and then stands up, stretching out his back with a gross cracking noise.  
"Hey, can we get pizza?" He asks. Dave smiles faintly, realising it's the first time Karkat's actually requested food rather than just taking whatever Dave chooses.  
"Yeah, let's do it," Dave grins. How weird it is, he thinks, to befriend a demon. A demon who's hurting, and feeling more emotions than some humans ever do.


	3. Chapter 3

It's been three months and Dave's life is definitely the strangest it's ever been, but in a good way. Karkat's gone from just being a demon that haunts him and occasionally appears to basically his full-time roommate. They eat meals together, have movie nights and argue constantly about pretty much anything. It's probably one of the closest things to a proper friendship that Dave's ever experienced. And, though he's promised to never tell the demon this to his face, Karkat's starting to mean a lot to him.  
And in return, it seems like Karkat feels the same. He starts recognising the symptoms of when Dave's having a bad day, and will do whatever he can to help. This includes making sure Dave, eats, showers, takes his meds and just basically looks after himself. On top of that, the demon has, for some completely unknown reason, started to learn how to cook, and occasionally brings food to Dave when it's been a while since he last ate. He even seems to have memorised some of Dave's favourite things, like movies and music that he likes, and it's not unusual for Dave to come home from a bad day at work to find one of his favourite songs playing and a bag of snacks waiting on his bed.  
"I love you," Dave jokes one day when Karkat presents him with a bag of doritos. And for the first time Karkat's grey skin turns bright red, and he turns away to hide his flushed cheeks. "I'm joking, idiot," Dave says, pretending his heart didn't clench slightly at the sight of Karkat blushing like that.  
"Whatever," Karkat shrugs, as if he doesn't care even though Dave can see he's still blushing.

"Why did you drop out of college?" Karkat asks that night as they're both lounging on Dave's bed and watching an old sitcom on Dave's laptop. Dave pauses the episode, because it's a good one and he knows Karkat will appreciate a joke that's about to be told in it, and rolls over to face him.  
"The other students were assholes about the fact that I don't have parents," Dave huffs, "And then one idiot found out I was gay and spread it and... it was awful. It was just the last straw and I had to get the fuck away from everything."  
Karkat nods for a few seconds as if he's thinking something over, and then, as if it's an afterthought, asks, "What's gay?"  
Dave lets out a surprised snort, and then realises that demons probably don't have things like sexuality. Do demons have relationships? Can they fall in love? "Being gay is like... okay, so I'm a guy, right? And, I'm attracted to other guys. That's gay."  
"Oh right," Karkat murmurs, and that's all he says. Dave smiles, because coming out has never been easier, and then he presses play again and a moment later he's listening to Karkat laughing uncontrollably at the sitcom, all his other thoughts fading away.

Work gets a little better. The owner of the coffee shop, Caliborn is replaced by his twin sister Calliope, who's much better than her brother ever was. She's pretty nice, and when the shop is empty she lets the workers chat and buys them lunch quite often. Dave's especially grateful for the fact that she seems to notice when things get a bit too much for him, and often takes over when he's dealing with difficult customers. Like the group of teenage girls that come in quite regularly and always try their best to flirt with Dave. Or the man that looks like his Bro who has turned out to be a regular.  
Even when he's had a good day at work, it's always a relief to go home, where Karkat's always waiting and ready to watch a movie or eat dinner or even just talk for a while.

The demon has taking a strange liking to romcoms, and has started watching them even when Dave's not home.  
"They're shit, dude," Dave protests when Karkat tries to explain why he loves them so much.  
"It's just so beautiful!" Karkat sighs, "It's nice to know some people get to experience such nice things in their lives."  
"Huh, yeah, I guess" Dave mumbles.  
He gets surprised one day when they're watching yet another romcom and Karkat suddenly starts to cry. He sniffs, rubbing quickly at his eyes. When Dave glances over at him, Karkat sniffs back a few more tears, and turns away from him. Dave sighs but smiles slightly, and drapes one arm around Karkat's shoulders, puling him in closer to his side. Karkat clutches at the sleeve of Dave's shirt with his claws, and doesn't move from his side until the movie ends.  
"At least people in movies get happy endings," he mumbles tiredly as the credits roll. Dave nods with a murmur of agreement. He glances down at the demon, who's slumped down even further, his head now resting on Dave's leg. And though he finds it slightly weird, Dave rests a hand gently on top of Karkat's head between his little horns, and scratches at his scalp slightly. Karkat lets out one of his strange demon noises, this one sounding slightly like a purr. And then he suddenly sits straight upright, and quickly jumps up to his feet, before rushing from the room. "I'm sorry," he mutters as he goes, "This isn't right..." And Dave's not exactly sure what he means, but assumes the demon's probably just freaking out because he's not supposed to befriend humans. He worries about that quite a lot.

At some point, Dave decides he should probably introduce Karkat to his friend John. He calls Karkat into the room one day when he's on a video call with John. Understandably, his friend panics, and starts to shout loudly. Karkat backs away out of the camera's view, snarling.  
"Karks! Calm down!" Dave snaps, "And you too, John!" He reaches out, and grabs onto Karkat's arm, pulling the demon onto the bed by his side. "This is Karkat. He's a demon, but... well he's kinda my roommate. Karkat, this is John."  
"Oh, hi Karkat," John says quietly, his eyes slightly too wide.  
"Hi," Karkat mutters, not looking up at the screen but instead just staring down at his own hands.  
Dave continues to lead the conversation between the two of them for a while, and then eventually John has to leave.  
"Sorry," Dave sighs when he hangs up, "I just wanted you to meet him."  
"It's okay," Karkat says, "I understand why you're friends with him. He's nice."  
Dave nods with a small smile. "Yeah, we always said that one day we'd move in together. We've been friends since we were kids. He's really been great to me."  
Karkat smiles faintly, and when Dave puts an arm around him a few moments later the demon curls up against his side eagerly. Dave glances down at the demon, who's staring up at him with wide eyes from underneath his messy hair, and feels his stomach twists a little at how adorable he is.  
"What?" Karkat asks when he spots Dave staring.  
"Nothing," Dave replies, instantly looking away and changing the subject. "You wanna get dinner?"


	4. Chapter 4

He's been in the apartment for almost a year when he gets the call from John one day. His friend has finally finished at his college, and is moving. It's the perfect time for the two of them to finally move in together. They've always said they will once John's not so busy with college, plus the apartment is starting to get too expensive for Dave. He needs a roommate to be able to afford it. So moving in with John seems like the best idea.

"You're doing what?" Karkat asks when Dave tells him, and Dave notices how upset he looks. He's always told Karkat that he's not going to live there forever, but the demon still seems surprised.  
"I'm moving to live with John," Dave repeats himself quietly, "Dude, I told you that was my goal one day."  
"And what about me?" Karkat asks, "You're just going to leave?"  
"Look, I can't afford this place anymore, and John's my best friend," Dave sighs, "Karkat I... You mean so much to me but... you're a demon and -"  
"I know!" Karkat snaps, "I'm a demon and you're a human and we should have never even been friends!"  
"That's not what I meant!" Dave protests, but it's too late. Karkat hunches over slightly, hands curling into fists, tail lashing angrily and a snarl building in his throat.  
"You humans are all the same!" He practically roars, "You've never cared about me. You were just keeping me friendly so you could live here peacefully until you decided to move on. I thought... I thought you..." His words are no longer understandable, nothing but guttural growls in some ancient language. A dark cloud of smoke starts to surround him, and then he lets out a loud screaming noise, and becomes part of the cloud. The smoke crashes around the apartment for a second, knocking into things, and then it's gone. Dave stares for a few seconds, biting his lip anxiously, and then rushes away to his bedroom, wiping away the first sting of tears in his eyes.  
It's easy for him to sometimes forget that Karkat's a demon and let his guard down. He doesn't want to upset him, but, as Karkat continuously reminds him, he's a demon and he's stuck here. He'll never be able to leave, and Dave can't stay here forever just because of Karkat.

For the next few days, he doesn't see Karkat at all, but the demon's anger is obvious. Things in the apartment keep getting thrown around, and he's woken several times each night by doors slamming and things falling loudly out of cupboards. He takes to talking out loud to the air, practically pleading with Karkat at this point, but never getting an answer. The silence in the apartment is unnatural to him, and he spends most days in his bedroom, watching movies alone and hoping that maybe Karkat's watching invisibly from nearby.  
Somedays, when he comes back from work or shopping, or wherever else he's been out to, he thinks he sees the end of Karkat's tail disappearing into another room, or the telltale black smoke that tells him the demon's just been here. But he doesn't properly see him until the day that he actually tells the landlord he's moving out.  
Karkat appears grumpily on the sofa by his side that night and steals a slice of the pizza Dave's eating without saying a word.  
"Nice to see you too," Dave says.  
Karkat rolls his eyes. "So, you're moving when?" He asks.  
"Two weeks time," Dave replies. Karkat nods to himself, and doesn't say much else, focusing on whatever programme Dave's watching on tv. And though Karkat doesn't really say much else for the rest of the night, the way that he shuffles closer to Dave and curls up against his side is enough to tell Dave that he's been forgiven for the time being. And, for the next two weeks, he just focuses on enjoying whatever time he's got left with Karkat.

Eventually, the day arrives that Dave's supposed to be moving out. He hasn't seen Karkat for the last few days, especially since he's started packing his stuff up. But he has noticed that occasionally when he wakes up the demon will have done some packing for him overnight, which he appreciates. Even if Karkat's still slightly angry about the whole situation, he's still being friendly, and that's all Dave really cares about.  
When he gets up on the morning he's supposed to leave, Dave's surprised to find Karkat sat on the sofa. He looks up as Dave walks in, and then quickly looks away. Dave suddenly realises this is the last time he's going to spend a morning with Karkat, and struggles to keep his face in its usual, emotionless state.  
"Hey," he murmurs quietly, crawling onto the sofa by Karkat's side, "I'm sorry. I want to leave this place but I really don't want to leave you." Karkat looks up, opens his mouth as if he's going to say something, and then doesn't. He just leans his head over onto Dave's shoulder silently, and Dave drapes one arm around Karkat's shoulders.  
"It's okay," Karkat murmurs quietly, "Everyone has to leave eventually." That makes Dave wonder if Karkat's ever been close to anyone else in the apartment and if he's ever had to go through this before.  
"Maybe one day I'll come back and see if you're still here," Dave suggests, mostly as a joke but also wondering if he would ever come back here.  
"Maybe I should just quit this job," Karkat sighs, "I was going to before you moved in, but then I guess you kind of gave me a reason to stay. I could just go back to hell and... I don't know, wait for a new job or something." Dave shrugs, the movement making Karkat lift his head from his shoulder for a second. He's not exactly in any position to give Karkat career, advice, especially after quitting his job when he decided he was moving.  
"I guess I should get my stuff ready," Dave says after they've been sitting in silence for a while.  
"I'll help," Karkat murmurs, stretching his arms out as he sits up a little straighter.

And so they spend the next few hours packing the last of Dave' things and making sure every box is correctly labelled. They're mostly silent as they work, Dave occasionally humming a small tune and Karkat talking to himself in that weird, demon language of his.  
"The van'll be here soon," Dave sighs. He's hired a van to take all his stuff across to the new place, and he knows Karkat won't want to be around when a bunch of random people walk into the apartment to help carry all the boxes out.  
"Right," Karkat murmurs. They're both sat on the living room floor amidst a sea of cardboard boxes and bags, and they both stare silently down at the floor for a while. "I hope you have fun living with John," Karkat says after a while.  
"Thanks," Dave says with a small smile. There's a knock at the door then, and they both exchange sad glances as they get to their feet. "I guess this is it then?"  
"Yeah," Karkat says with a forced smile, "No point dragging it out I guess. Bye."  
"Yeah, bye," Dave mumbles. As there's a second knock, he calls out, "Just coming," before pulling Karkat into a tight hug. "I'll miss you," he murmurs.  
"I'll miss you too," Karkat sighs, and then he slowly disappears, until Dave's hugging nothing but air. He stares blankly for a second, and then rushes to get the door as there's a third, angrier sounding knock.

It takes less than a hour for everything to be moved out of the apartment and into the van. Staring into the empty apartment, Dave tries and fails to hold back tears, and then lets a few run down his face. The last of the movers have gone back down to the van, and John's on his way to pick him up in his car, so he lets himself spend a few moments alone in the apartment.  
"Hey," a voice says, and Karkat strolls out of the bathroom, "You didn't think I was going to let you get away with such a shitty goodbye, did you?"  
"What?" Dave mumbles, taking a step back in surprise. He really had expected for that to be the last time he saw Karkat.  
Karkat rolls his eyes, stomping one foot slightly. "Look, I figured as I'm never gonna see you again I might as well just do this," he says, taking a step forwards.  
"Wh-" Dave's question is cut off as Karkat grabs him by the collar of his shirt and tugs him forward, gently brushing their lips together for a second. Dave blushes, only realising then that he's been wanting Karkat to do that for ages. And though that should make it harder for him to leave, he somehow feels like a weight's been lifted off of his shoulders, like some sort of closure.  
"God, I'm going to miss you," Dave huffs, leaning down to rest his forehead against Karkat's.  
"I know. But you have to move on. Can't stay here forever," Karkat murmurs, before slowly stepping back away from Dave, "Now you'd better go before I can't stop myself."  
"Stop yourself from doing what?" Dave asks, raising an eyebrow though it's barely visible due to his shades.  
"From doing anything I can to make you stay," Karkat replies. He pulls Dave back towards him to give him another quick kiss, and then steps back. "See you around, Strider," he says with a sad laugh, and then fades back out of existence.  
Dave watches him vanish, and raises a hand very gently to touch his lips. "Yeah, see you around," he mumbles as he closes the door of the apartment behind him for the last time, his heart aching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not completely happy with the chapter and the one before, so might have to rewrite at some point, but I hope people are enjoying this fic! One more chapter to go!


	5. Chapter 5

Living with John is everything Dave's ever wanted. They move into a small, downtown apartment, and Dave's just so glad to be with his friend that everything seems great for a long time. John's just as good as helping him when he feels down as Karkat was, and he starts to feel like his life is really taking a good turn. But then, after a few weeks, he really starts to miss Karkat. There's something different about how feels about John and how he feels about Karkat. Though he loves John as a friend, he can't help pining for the days when he could spend hours just watching movies with Karkat and insulting his love for romcoms. 

And then, three months after he left the old apartment, Dave and John are eating breakfast one morning when there's a knock at the door. Dave glances over at John, one eyebrow raised.  
"We expecting anyone?" He asks as he gets to his feet.  
"No," John replies. Curiously, he heads towards the front door, followed a few steps behind by John. When he pulls the door open, there's a boy standing on the doorstep, glancing around nervously.  
"Hello?" Dave asks slowly. The boy stares at Dave for a few seconds, eyes stretching wide, and ... does he have red eyes?  
"I found you," the boy says, "I can't believe I finally found you." His voice is familiar...  
"Karkat?" Dave asks suddenly as the red eyes and voice suddenly slot into place, like two pieces of a ridiculously confusing puzzle.  
"Dave!" The boy grins, and throws himself forwards at Dave, pushing the door shut behind him with one foot. As Dave cautiously wraps one arm around him, his whole body seems to ripple slightly, and then Dave's hugging a familiar demon tightly to him. "Sorry," Karkat says, "Illusion magic. Only way to get around without spooking the humans."  
"Holy shit, it's actually you!" Dave exclaims, hugging him even tighter, "What the fuck are you doing here?"  
"Couldn't just leave the only person that's ever treated me like something more than just a demon," Karkat mutters, stepping back out of Dave's arms and looking awkwardly down at the floor, cheeks flushed slightly red. "I... I gave it all up. My job, my ranking amongst the demons, my immortality. I gave it all up to live a normal life up here with you... If you want me, that is."  
Dave lets out a surprised noise that's a mixture of a sob and a laugh. "I... really? O- of course," he stutters. Very aware that John's still watching them from nearby, Dave reaches out to rest his hands on Karkat's shoulders, staring at him for a few seconds, staring at the face he thought he'd never see again. And then he pulls Karkat towards him, leaning down to crash their lips together in a slightly messy kiss. Karkat has to stretch up on his tiptoes due to their height difference, and Dave places a hand on the demon's lower back to hold him up slightly, his other hand tangled in Karkat's messy hair. Karkat's tail wraps itself tightly around one of Dave's legs, and when he goes to break the kiss after a few moments, Karkat desperately pulls him back towards him.

They're finally forced to pull away from each other when John clears his throat awkwardly behind them. Dave spins around, adjusting his shades where they've slipped down his nose and gone crooked, and throws an arm around Karkat's waist to keep the demon close to his side. Dave's smiling uncontrollably, and Karkat's face is flushed a bright red than Dave's ever seen it.  
"Hi," Karkat mutters awkwardly, raising one hand in John's direction in a small wave, his other hand scratching at the back of his neck.  
"Hi," John replies, looking just as uncomfortable as Dave feels right now. "Uh, so do we need to talk about this or...?"  
"I... don't really know what to say," Dave says, and then he starts laughing uncontrollably for no apparent reason. "I'm sorry John, but... your face is so funny! And Karkat," he wheels around to face the demon, "You show up looking like some random human ... I ... brilliant... best day ever." He's practically struggling for breath at this point, not fully sure why he's laughing but loving feeling so happy. Karkat glances at John, and the two laugh softly, rolling their eyes at Dave before they both help him into the living room where he instantly collapses onto the sofa.

"So," Dave says eventually, when he's calmed down and Karkat's curled up comfortably against his side, John sitting on the other sofa and watching them fondly. "Are you really back for good?"  
"Forever," Karkat promises him, turning and taking both of Dave's hands in his, "If... If you want me to be here. I don't want to intrude." Dave glances over quickly at John, not exactly sure how his friend's going to react.  
"Well, Dave's always telling me you were a great roommate," John says with a shrug, "And you two obviously make each other happy so... I guess what I'm saying is, you're welcome to stay, Karkat."  
"Really?" Karkat beams, eyes slightly teary as he grips Dave's hands even tighter. "I promise I'll be a good roommate, and I'm going to get a job and everything. I'm going to live like a human!" The sight of him grinning so excitedly like that makes Dave's heart squeeze slightly, and he pulls the demon towards him again, pulling him into his chest and wrapping his arms around him.  
"I just can't believe you're actually here," Dave murmurs, his chin resting gently between Karkat's horns.  
"I know," Karkat replies, voice muffled by Dave's chest.  
"I'm never leaving you again," Dave promises, "I still regret it." Karkat clicks and purrs gently, claws clutching at Dave's shirt, and the two stay curled closer together for a long time.

It doesn't take them long to come up with a good system that makes all three of them living together easy. Karkat gets a job at a nearby book store, changing into his human form whenever he leaves the house, and he soon falls in love with his work. Most days he comes home with stacks of books his coworkers have recommended he read, and he tells Dave all about them in detail as they lay in bed together at night. Dave doesn't mind, even thought Karkat seems to favour romance books just as much as he loves romcoms; he could lay and listen to Karkat talk for hours. And John seems to appreciate having Karkat as a roommate, especially as he's more willing to watch Nic Cage movies with John than Dave is.  
Despite the fun the three have together as a group, Dave loves those moments when it's just him and Karkat, curled up together somewhere, listening to music or watching a shitty movie whilst they talk for hours on end. During the day, Karkat's almost always disguised as a human, though his magic works so that somehow those who know he's a demon can always see his true form. But Dave much prefers it when they're home, where Karkat doesn't have to hide who he is, and Dave can gently scratch the demon's horns and laugh softly as his tail loops around his waist.  
It's not exactly a normal relationship, but nothing in Dave's life has ever been normal. And, when his half-sister Rose gets in contact, he finds that there are even more people in his life who love him and want to support him. And slowly, it starts to feel like he might one day have the future he's always dreamed about but never thought he'd actually get. And he thinks that maybe, after years of feeling that he's lost control of his life, things might finally be okay.  
"I love you," he murmurs to Karkat one night, when they're sat out on the apartment's balcony, staring up at the night sky. And it occurs to him that he's wanted to say that for so long without ever really realising it.  
Karkat laces his fingers with Dave's, squeezing his hand tightly, and whispers, "I love you too," into the darkness of the night. Dave lets out a long breath, watching it spiral out into the cool night air, and smiles to himself.  
Yeah. Everything's going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! If you read all the way to the end of this fic, thank you! It means a lot. I've really enjoyed writing this over the last few days, and I hope people have liked reading it as well. :)


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